


the hero and the barista

by DarlingHazel



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, Reader-Insert, implies such at least, jack is idiot boy, sort of references sexual harassment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-12
Updated: 2019-04-12
Packaged: 2020-01-12 08:26:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18442775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarlingHazel/pseuds/DarlingHazel
Summary: In which Handsome Jack has a tendency to sneak into your home and comforts you.





	the hero and the barista

You came back from a long, boring day at work again. People came and went, and a few gave you dirty looks. You knew why. The day was packed, yet not once had a person come to speak to you as you waited patiently for someone to go to your side of the counter. It was completely and utterly silent, despite the crowd, and that scared you.

It wasn't like this before, but you felt that the dirty looks were part of the reason why even your co-workers were avoiding you today.

All that lack of interaction gave you time to think. Too much. When you thought, you thought hard, and god if the thoughts didn't wreck you. The moment you got home, you shrugged your coat off hastily, knowing full well what was about to erupt as tears began to well up in your eyes.

You are pathetic.

You collapsed before you could even make it to the couch, just barely able to lay your head on the cushions as you started to break out into sobs. Nobody liked you, nobody wanted you around, you were just the boring waitress that "slept" with the boss. Of course he'd choose to take you, the one who'd have no one to listen to their story. The one nobody cared about, nobody would notice if you'd just up and killed yourself, even. Thoughts of happiness were tossed aside, nothing brought you happiness anymore. Every day, the same old routine. And your damned boss. Of course he'd ruin your life, out of everyone elses.

Your life never mattered to begin with.

Your family was distant and your friends.. were different. You had so much fun with them at the start, and everyone was so understanding and great. Then they grew distant. And then they turned it on you, claiming you were the one avoiding them. Then they grew distant again. Nobody saw you having a breakdown at the last party, and even if they did, they never said anything. All these thoughts broke you, broke you far too many times to count, yet you still lived. But why?

What was the point?

Your heart practically shattered as the thought crossed the point; Why should I try? You knew it was pointless, so why bother? Your sobs increased in volume as you buried your face deeper into the cushions, yet they were muffled. They weren't muffled at the party.

Who cares? Why should you care if anyone cares? Why do you? It hurt, it hurt so much, so, so much, you just wanted the thoughts to stop. You wanted to live, but at this point you feel like you've lived enough. Nobody would notice, you're just a burden, you matter nothing, you're pathetic.. Everything hurt. Please.

You felt like throwing up, regret, anxiety, and fear gnawing at your core while you shook pathetically. As you cried and pulled at your hair, you failed to hear a door open.

"Hey-" the familiar voice caught you off guard, but you were so tangled in thinking you didn't know if it was real or not. Maybe you're going insane, as though you weren't insane enough already. Despite this, you decided to risk a glance at the door, knowing full well if it truly was nothing, you'd have finally began your rotting process.

"Pumpkin?" there was no doubt about it, Jack stood at your doorway, brows knitted together in what looked like concern, staring at you, a mess. You felt like breaking again, you hated being looked at, he's looking at you dirty again isn't he he thinks you're a slut you'repatheticyou'reworthle-

"Hey, hey, pumpkin! What's wrong?" He's kneeled by your side now, looking down at you with his hand gently hovering above your back, afraid to break what's already been broken. "Princess?" his voice was laced with genuine concern, though you couldn't believe it. Why would he care about you? Your mouth opened, but no words came out, only a choked sob before you pressed your face into your wet cushions again.

He said nothing, and you felt him get up. The door closed.

You felt something creep up your throat, your heart sank, you couldn't breathe.

But then a hand gently patted your back awkwardly, and you shakily exhaled. Your heart would've swelled, had you not felt pathetic. So pathetic. "Could you look at me, princess?" the nickname rolled off his tongue so easily, he must've used it thousands of times on other women. You wondered how many fell for his tricks.

"Please."

You decided to humor him, lifting your head up, not caring for how much of a mess you look. He locked eyes with you and sighed. He must've been disappointed you gave in so easily, probably thought you'd be different because you were probably the most normal or boring out of all the other women he's met. "You're a mess."

You held your breath. It still hurt.

He gently placed his hand over yours, lacing his fingers with yours before pulling you up with him. "Let's get you in a better place, alright?" his grip tightened, just a little bit, so as to be reassuring and you decided to indulge in his little game, you probably won't be here forever anymore.

You held back a sob at that.

Leading you towards your bedroom, Jack so softly laid you down on top of the blanket, letting go of your hand for just a second to get on the other side before intertwining his fingers with yours again. He laid on his side, you looked at the ceiling. You didn't want to cry again, he can't see you when you're weak. He already probably thinks you're pathetic now though, so it's not like his opinion should hold any value anymore.

"You wanna talk about it?" he asked, and you shook your head. He hummed, playing with your fingers. Almost reassuring. Why was he here? You felt it didn't matter anymore, so you looked into his mismatched eyes, seemingly looking at the ceiling just as you were moments ago, without the same embarrassment you felt before. Your voice cracked as you asked, "Can you leave?"

"I can," he finally caught your gaze, curious frown morphing into a smile as he looked up at the ceiling again. "But I won't."

You restrained a smile at that, your heart kicked up a little even. But you knew better. And with this thought, you were reminded of what led up to this in the first place and before you knew it, you felt tears rolling down your cheeks again and you let out a sob, rolling on to your left side to face away from him as you began crying again. Your hand slipped out of his gentle grip as you did so. It all hurt so much.

Before you could go even deeper into these thoughts, however, you felt Jack move in closer and his arm go over your waist before his hand rested itself atop your hand again. He left it at that, this time, as his other hand combed gently through your hair. "I'm here because I wanted to see you." He admitted. You nearly snorted had it not been for you still crying, he must've been feeling real desperate to resort to trying to seduce someone like you.. if that even was what he was doing. You.. didn't doubt it was. After all, he's like that, isn't he?

He must have felt you tense, as his thumb began to rub gentle circles onto the back of your hand. It calmed you down just a little, but you kept sobbing softly. "I know you don't- don't care, Jack, please--" you couldn't even finish the sentence anymore, that was how pathetic you were. You couldn't tell him to leave you alone, because even if you believed he would without hesitation and probably wants that, you don't want him to. You need someone, so badly.

"Doubting me? That's awful bold for someone who's been getting a lot of doubts recently." he blurted. That struck you hard, and you broke down crying louder, unable to form a coherent 'fuck you' and instead opting for curling into a ball, retracting your hand from under his and clutching it close to your chest. He realized quickly what he'd said, and you felt him sit up. He was going to leave now, wasn't he?

"Shit, I'm sorry, princess. I didn't mean it, I was just trying to lift the mood." Way to go, jackass. It started to get harder and harder to breathe. "Fuck, hey, get up, please. I'm-I'm sorry." he didn't know what he was saying, honestly, he probably didn't even know what happened.

Shit, he might not even know. You shot up, looking at him. "Why- why are you..- here?" he looked upset, looking at the sheets confusedly and sort of angrily. He didn't know what was wrong, so he didn't know how to deal with it. "I- I went to visit you at the end of your shift, but you walked straight past me and you looked really upset, so I.. I wanted to check on you." he looked up at you and put up one of his fake smiles. "Do you know..." you couldn't say it, you broke into a cry again but this time he was quick to act, wrapping an arm around you and pulling you into his embrace and rubbing circles onto your back as his right hand held yours.

"It's okay, princess, you don't have to say anything. I'll just be quiet." "No, no.." you didn't want that, you wanted to know he was there, you needed him so badly. "... Tell me a story." you muttered, but he heard.

"Okay, well..." He adjusted his seating a bit, to lift you up and place you more on his lap. You buried your face in his shirt and he clutched you closer. "Once upon a time, there was a mighty handsome looking fellow, charming smile and attractive personality, real awesome, heroic fella." your crying had toned down, and you listened softly. You knew he was talking about himself, the narcissistic bastard.

"He was on some quest to do some epic stuff, y'know, he was real big and people looked up to him, so he had to stay undercover in order to not get approached and give away his location to the bad guys." as he spoke, you gave in and placed your hand over his, entwining your fingers together but more firmly, not wanting to let go. You felt his tension leave him, slowly. "He went to this funky looking thing called a 'cafe', met a barista there and she was, quite frankly, the most beautiful piece of ass he'd ever laid his eyes on." You snorted. "She got his order wrong and he was so pissed, the idiot decided to start throwing threats her way. She did not take kindly to those, and shot back just as hard. Pierced the poor bastard with his own insecurities, honestly." His voice had the hint of a smile, and you felt one creep up onto your face too. You remember this.

"Fast forward to a few days later, turns out the bad guy thought the hero was dating the barista, and the hero got real offended at the accusation. Oh yeah, so offended he even snuck into the barista's home to rant. She didn't even blink when he turned up on her couch, she just spouted an insult and continued making her coffee as he rambled and rambled about some bullshit--" Jack laughed a little, and you looked up to find him looking at both of your hands with a twinkle in his eyes, "After he beat the bad guy like a total badass, he kept visiting her. He'd sometimes check in on her at work, but for the most part he would find little ways to show up unexpectedly to her place. But then.." his smile contorted into a frown, and so did yours as you listened on curiously. "... the hero made a mistake and stopped visiting her, getting busy with other heroic things. He regretted it deeply, when he went to surprise her and found her angry. He thought she was angry at her."

He sighed, looking into your eyes and your breath hitched. "She was the most beautiful woman he'd ever met, stunning in all the ways he never knew he found stunning until now-- everything he once never thought of, he thought of all the time, and everything he ever looked for, was always there behind the counter dressed in some weird dumb uniform greeting him with that damned smile, or on the couch eating pizza and throwing him off balance with her stupidly true words." You felt tears begin to gather again, but identified it as you being flustered, and not anything too bad at all. "He thought she was the strongest person he'd ever met, of course after him-- the last part he mostly kept to himself about. But he knew whatever she'd went through, she had every right to feel upset about, and she'd be strong enough to get through it like she's most likely done plenty of times before. Hero be damned, she saved him in her own little quirky ways."

All his words tugged at your heartstrings and you quickly buried your face in his chest again, squeezing your eyes closed. Jack breathed your name, and removed his hand from yours to lift your face up. "Run away with me, how 'bout it, sweetheart? You and me together, ruling the world. The hero and the barista. I think it's already pretty obvious how I feel about you."

Your heart picked up in pace, rapidly beating and your breathing sped up, you didn't know how to feel, you just felt.. so giddy. "I mean, if it's not, I feel like.. fuzzy and dumb around you. And warm. Which is, well, impossible, honestly, I'm very much not dumb, and I'm not warm, I'm hot. Goddamn drop dead gorgeous." You laughed, and he joined in, chuckling. He held your hand again, lifting it up gently and pressing a kiss to your knuckles. "And I'd hope I'm not being too overbearingly narcissistic in assuming you feel just the same."

Rather than answering(you didn't trust your own voice yet), you opted to just lean in and peck him on the corner of his lips. It definitely caught him off guard, as his eyes widened for just a split second in surprise before he smirked, "I'd say I'm lucky, but I'm honestly just very irresistible."

You laughed again, and slapped him. "Shut up, idiot." you finally spoke, smiling widely like a total dumbass.

He grinned ear to ear then held you closer somehow. "I love you." his voice softened. Your heart raced and your face, if even possible, got redder. Your cheeks burned and you felt him press his face into the crook of your neck, pressing his lips against it ever so gently. You sighed, content, and held his hand tighter. Things will get better, now that he's here.

"I love you too."

**Author's Note:**

> I hope that was sweet enough for y'all! to indulge you guys in what happened to the reader, the boss basically sexually harassed them(didn't go too far, thankfully.) at their job but the reader had gotten away in time, however the boss was sort of in a high position of power and so word got around that the reader had slept with the boss to climb up the ranks and get a better job. jack didn't know this, he'd only returned from his 'heroic missions' after it. the word spread quick, as that all only happened the day before this fic occurred. hopefully that makes sense!
> 
> to summarize jack after this in a few words, though: the boss is dead and her friends/co-workers may be having a bad time soon


End file.
